What Does Exodus 38:2 Mean in the King James?
And he made the horns thereof on the four corners of it; the horns thereof were of the same: and he overlaid it with brass.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The altar’s horns are not accessories: their strength rises from the same body that bears the offering.
THE MEANING
The altar carries four horns at its four turning points; they are made from its own body and share its bronze covering. Its strength belongs to the whole structure that holds the offering.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that strength must be added from outside to make something whole; here, the horns are of the altar itself.
THE ROOT
קַרְנֹתָיו
qarnotav
GROWS FROM
קרן
q-r-n
A horn or ray; by extension, strength that projects or rises.
“horns” in this verse is qarnotav. The horn is a projection that belongs to the altar itself, while this root also describes rays and figuratively strength. The image joins outward form with power, so the altar carries its strength in its own four points.
ALSO GROWS
qeren: Horn; figuratively, strength or power.
קֶרֶן
Psalm 18:2 calls the LORD “the horn of my salvation”; the projecting horn becomes an image of strength carrying deliverance.
qaran: To send out rays, to shine.
קָרַן
Exodus 34:29 uses this verb for the rays from Moses’ face; the shared image is something projecting outward from a center.
פִּנֹּתָיו
pinnotav
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
To turn or face toward.
“corners” in this verse is pinnotav. The corner word belongs to a family around turning and facing. The horns sit where the altar’s sides turn into its four edges, so its geometry and its upward projections meet at the same points.
ALSO GROWS
panah: To turn or face toward.
פָּנָה
This root gives the corner its sense of a place where a side turns toward another direction.
pinnah: Corner; in רֹאשׁ פִּנָּה (rosh pinnah), the head or chief corner, a cornerstone.
פִּנָּה
The same noun can name a cornerstone, linking a corner to the point that helps hold a structure together.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents the horn both as a projection on the altar and as an image of strength that can be raised or cut down.
And thou shalt make the horns of it upon the four corners thereof: his horns shall be of the same: and thou shalt overlay it with brass.All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,THE THREAD
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.Exodus gives the horn a place on the altar; Psalm 18:2 uses the same Hebrew word, קֶרֶן (qeren, “horn”), as an image of strength carrying deliverance. The physical projection opens into the word’s wider meaning.
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